Just get it done

© 2017 Tiago Mattos

Edited by

Gustavo Guertler

Coordinated by

Fernanda Fedrizzi

English version by

Cici Baxter, Carolina Correa da Silva, and Rafa Lombardino

Cover and graphic design by

Celso Orlandin Jr.

Graphics design by

Gabriel Kolton

Illustrations by

Fernando Volken Togni

Photo of the fourth cover by

Maurício Thomsen

Production of ebook

S2 Books

ISBN: 978-85-8174-470-4

2018

All rights reserved by

Editora Belas Letras Ltda.

Coronel Camisão, 167

Zip code: 95020-420 – Caxias do Sul – RS

www.belasletras.com.br

To my parents, for teaching me that combining entrepreneurship and positive impact is truly worth it.

To my brothers, for being such role models for entrepreneurial awareness.

To my wife, for inspiring me and allowing me to live a life driven by challenges.

To my business partners, for welcoming me into an environment of BROTHERS love.

Cover

Title page

Credits

Dedication

What you will find in this book

I. Landscape

II. Industrial mindset VS. Digital mindset

III. The aesthetics of doing - the six vectors

IV. The e study: seven findings that set entrepreneurs and non-entrepreneurs apart

V. Just get it done - Part I: important questions for a budding entrepreneur

VI. Just get it done - Part 2: positive impact and why the world doesn’t need another company that only thinks about itself

VII. Just get it done - Part 3: turning your idea into a prototype/mvp

VIII. Just get it done - Part 4: when you sleep on an mvp and wake up with a project

IX. Just get it done - Part 5: leaving project limbo and reaching business maturity

X. Just get it done - Part 6: building a company (whose purpose has a high impact and that doesn’t depend on you)

XI. Productive behavior: Making sure your daily tasks won’t kill your jgid

XII. Horizontal networks: First thoughts on the future of work

Forever grateful

Book references

1. THIS IS A

STRAIGHTFORWARD BOOK.

A DECISIVE READING. AN INVITATION TO TAKE A

LOOK AT CRUCIAL POINTS IN ENTREPRENEURSHIP.

I WRITE WITH SURGICAL PRECISION. NO BULLSHIT.

I’VE ALWAYS BELIEVED IN SIMPLIFYING THAT WHICH IS COMPLEX, RATHER THAN TAKING SOMETHING SIMPLE AND MAKING IT MORE COMPLICATED.

I WOULDN’T HAVE IT ANY OTHER WAY HERE.

STILL, I MUST CONFESS: DESPITE KEEPING IT IN MIND WHILE WRITING, I’M NOT COMPLETELY SATISFIED WITH THE FINAL RESULT.

AS THE PHILOSOPHER AND MATHEMATICIAN

BLAISE PASCAL ONCE SAID: IF I HAD MORE TIME, I WOULD HAVE WRITTEN A SHORTER LETTER.

2. THIS IS A DEMOCRATIC BOOK.

OR, AT LEAST, IT HOPES TO BE.

IT DOESN’T EXCLUDE BUDDING ENTREPRENEURS (THUS THE LONG INTRODUCTION).

NOR DOES IT BORE

EXPERIENCED ENTREPRENEURS (WHO

MAY BE SURPRISED BY THE BLOOMING CONTENT HEREIN – ESPECIALLY IN THE SECOND HALF OF THE BOOK).

3. T HIS IS AN

UNFINISHED BOOK.

THIS BOOK IS A SNAPSHOT OF MY

ENTREPRENEURIAL VISION AS OF FEBRUARY 2017 [1].

FROM HERE ON OUT, EVERYTHING CAN

CHANGE. AND I SINCERELY HOPE IT DOES.

CHANGING YOUR MIND IS A NECESSARY RESOURCE FOR YOU TO EVOLVE.

CHANGING YOUR MIND IS NOT A SIGN OF WEAKNESS. IT’S A SIGN OF GREATNESS.

As I often say, you can identify passionate people by the look in their eyes. I’m a fan of Tiago’s mostly because many of his projects made me think: Why in God’s name HAVE I NEVER thought of that before?

I’m a fan of Tiago’s because he has the incredible ability to add subtitles to contemporary times. That’s right. Very few people have the ability to explain the collective mind in such an easy, practical way.

Oh! I’m also a fan of Tiago’s because he not only has ideas—he implements them. But above all, because he discovered very early on the power of us and transformed it into a process. Tiago doesn’t establish companies that make products for people. He establishes companies with people who make products.

That’s why, as a fan, I was stoked when Tiago invited me to write this preface (I consider Tiago the Brazilian Seth Godin.) when I stopped to think about how we first met, I realized that, despite the enormous affection and mutual admiration, we’ve never met each other face to face. If it weren’t for this beautiful and vast new world, we wouldn’t have met at all. We identified in each other the will to live for our purposes, far beyond a life based on things.

That being said, I would swap the first sentence of this preface for the penultimate sentence of this preface: You can identify passionate people by the beat of their heart!

Got butterflies in your stomach yet?

Happy reading!

Rony Meisler

Founder of Reserva.

Under Rony’s leadership, Reserva was named one of the world’s most innovative companies in 2015, according to Fast Company. What I admire the most in this mega entrepreneur is his subversive nature, which is a subject we couldn’t help but address here in JUST GET IT DONE.

THE FAMILIAR OF TODAY IS THE ABSURD OF TOMORROW

In a not too distant past, society was divided between the free (those with pale skin) and slaves (those with dark skin.)

For the vast majority of people who lived at that time, dividing citizens based on the color of their skin was something acceptable—either naturally or with resignation. You were either in the manor house or in the slave quarters.

As a society, there was no collective mind that firmly questioned segregation. The few who did it, did so in private, but never in public. Consequently, there were white people who feared being judged, and black people who feared potential retaliation.

This belief was heeded and passed on to future generations, who continued to perpetuate this mindset: Some deserve freedom; others don’t.

Today, society has acquired a level of consciousness that condemns this nonsense. Not coincidentally, racism is a non-bailable crime nowadays. But until Golden Law passed in 1888, such was the reality in Brazil and few had the courage to question and challenge the status quo.

Just like racism, we can also refer to women’s right to vote. Despite a few suffragettes, until 1932 much of society understood it as only natural: men can vote, women cannot.

It wasn’t long ago that children’s education was based on physical punishment. Parents would hit their children. Teachers would apply unthinkable punishments by today’s standards, like asking a child to kneel on rice or smacking their hands with a stick.

Imagining any type of violence or harm done to a child causes immediate outrage nowadays.

It was only recently that society opened up to different sexual orientations. If we stop to think that, just a few decades ago, anything other than heterosexuality was quickly labeled as an illness, we can see how much we have evolved, and greatly so.

To give you an idea, it was only in May 1990 that the World Health Organization removed homosexuality from the International Classification of Diseases (ICD).

And what can we say about the Apartheid? It was only in 1994, when Nelson Mandela was elected, that South Africa was able to reach new horizons in terms of racial equality.

We are talking about very recent changes. Slavery in Brazil was only abolished 126 years ago. The right to vote was only granted to Brazilian women 82 years ago. Changes to the CID and Mandela’s revolution happened less than 30 years ago.

In conclusion: The familiar of today becomes the absurd of tomorrow.

Unlike Claudius Ptolemy—who assured that Earth was the center of the solar system, and whose theory was only challenged fourteen centuries later by Nicolaus Copernicus—we live in a time where new ideas can arise at any given moment. These ideas have the ability to destroy the status quo overnight.

And it’s with this intention that I’d like to make the following question: Are we looking at the way companies, jobs, and work are structured as something that is merely familiar?

Is it possible that we are promoting a model that, in a few years’ time, we will be embarrassed about because of its controlling nature?

Isn’t it time to think about new possibilities?

While we are immersed in certainties, while we don’t consider new alternatives, we will continue to do everything as we have always done it.

This book is an invitation to reflection, an invitation to look at human autonomy in a different way and, consequently, to reconsider entrepreneurship, management, and our professional lives.

This book is an invitation to experience a new work format. It will certainly sound absurd to some people, but I’d rather sound absurd today as opposed to sounding absurd tomorrow.

THE FUTURE OF ENTERPRISES

The digital revolution has brought a new awareness to all levels of society, awakening both employees and employers.

Now we face a domino effect that will lead us to face one of the most radical changes in the history of work dynamics.

In the near future, companies will cease to exist—at least not like we know them today.

We will all be freelancers, independent professionals. You will be able to work in your chosen field, doing what you enjoy. One day, you could be an interior designer; the next day, a musician; a week later, a jiu-jitsu teacher.

It will all depend on your interests, your abilities, and the law of supply and demand.

Today’s regulations (degrees and titles) will be even more fluid in the future, allowing you to literally select thousands of professional activities that you can take part in throughout your life.

Actually, there will no longer be professions (which are static); there will only be activities (which are fluid.)

Companies (which are static) will give room to workgroups (which are fluid) and people will gather around a common purpose. These groups will exist for as long as they remain relevant to all of those involved. They will no longer be bound by contracts or the respective laws.

There will be no bosses or employers. Leadership will be circumstantial and adaptive, never fixed. Hence, there will be no positions (which are static,) just temporary roles (which are fluid.)

Purpose and legacy will act as invisible leaders.

Everyone will be business partners and, therefore, enter into preliminary agreements to set responsibilities, and consequently, wages and participation.

Following the principles of abundance, there will be a very different sense of competitiveness compared to what we have today. We will all take a more collaborative approach, then enjoying your work will come as a natural consequence.

People will have freedom to let go of projects whenever they wish to do so, without legal implications, the need to give anyone notice, or for any other bureaucratic reason.

And this approach will be applied throughout society: the private sector, the public sector, and NGOs.

The new system will be dynamic, creating many more opportunities than there are today, allowing you to experiment with however many activities you wish.

We will all have more opportunities and even more freedom to come and go as we please.

That is the only way each individual will be able to do exactly that which makes them truly happy.

This scenario, which may sound like utopia to some, is closer than it seems. In some places, it’s a reality already.

IN SUM, WE WILL ALL BE ENTREPRENEURS

However, freedom comes with a price. We need to get used to a new type of organization—a much less paternalistic one than what we have today.

The new system will be more horizontal and require everyone to take ownership.

Current employees will have to embrace self-management practices, thus performing tasks without external management.

Directors and managers will have to learn how to work without hierarchy in organizations where everyone sees themselves as empowered individuals.

Entrepreneurs have the responsibility to tear down their current business structures in favor of distributed models. But, mostly, they have the responsibility to share their entrepreneurial awareness—their ability to implement their ideas—with those who don’t have this ability yet.

This is everyone’s mission.

As Nobel Prize winner Muhammad Yunus said, We are all entrepreneurs , only too few of us get to practice it.

THE ENTREPRENEURIAL CONCEPT

Being an entrepreneur doesn’t necessarily mean you need to start a business.

An entrepreneur is someone who doesn’t accept reality in a resigned way. They are motivated by the desire to make a positive impact in the world, and help co-build an initiative.

Only entrepreneurs can say what an initiative will be, how it will come to fruition, and why it should continue to exist.

Here’s my simple definition of what an entrepreneur is: An individual who is aware of their empowerment and, for this very same reason, takes the reins of their own lives, creating initiatives that will change our reality for the better.

***

As for empowerment, we are all already empowered. The thing is that, unfortunately, many people are still living in a hierarchical world, where some are worth more than others.

***

As for autonomy, from Kant to Piaget this word is frequently used by great thinkers. The best definition I could find was: Autonomy is the ability to govern yourself while following a mindful decision-making process, that is, making rational and emotional choices with the knowledge and understanding of your actions and the most immediate consequences. Autonomy also means not being determined by invisible influences, such as fear, social pressures, or conformity.

Entrepreneurs have the emotional ability to make decisions for themselves.

They live life to the fullest as aware beings who have the ability to make themselves happy.

***

As for creating an initiative, it doesn’t necessarily need to be something professional. It could be an NGO that tackles hunger, an association of parents who wish to educate their children, a philosophy study group—or even less pretentious efforts.

The most important element here is that you take the initiative and make it come true, instead of accepting the world as it is right now. Then, when we reach a more horizontal world order, the mere fact of participating in professional initiatives will already mean that you are co-building them.

In other words, when hierarchy no longer exists and everyone involved is a business partner, contributing to a new project will automatically make you an entrepreneur.

***

As for changing the world for the better, our current reality has diminished people’s capacity to think for themselves and enhanced our selfish tendencies. However, if we bring individuals to an advanced level of awareness, they’ll go back to their altruistic nature.

The true essence of entrepreneurship is kindness.

CHALLENGES

Evidently, we will face many challenges before we get there. The inequalities that exist in our society today make it harder for us to imagine such a short-term transition.

However, as the good optimist that I am, I believe in humanity. We are skilled at solving problems—we have always been, and will always be.

The technological advances we have seen in the last hundred years have allowed us to have a higher quality of life universally, which is an unprecedented phenomenon.

Therefore, if on the one hand we must deal with fear, on the other hand there must always be hope.

As for the future, I know this much is true: it is relentless and it doesn’t reach everyone at the same time.

Still, it eventually will.

THE JGID PRINCIPLE

Throughout my entrepreneurial journey, I realized that the just get it done (JGID) system works both ways. One the one hand, it awakens the entrepreneurial spirit in those who haven’t experienced it inherently. That is, the system enhances the feeling of empowerment and autonomy and the ability to put ideas into practice.

On the other hand, it turns highly vertical companies into more horizontal structures.

It’s a win-win scenario: individuals, organizations, and the entire network will be in a better position.

THE SEVEN STEPS OF JGID

When you realize what entrepreneurship is, you naturally become inspired—and this inspiration will awaken a desire within you.

It isn’t an idea; it precedes the idea.

Being confused is only natural.

This desire will stay with you for a long time, and it will work as the engine that puts your daydreaming into motion.

Should I open a brownie store?

What if I opened a café here, in my garage?

What would it be like to have an online thrift store, selling second-hand items people no longer use?

Following a natural entrepreneurial path, you’ll most likely face this conundrum for a long time.

It’s very possible that you’ll have that a-ha moment, when you think you’re reinventing the wheel. You’ll fall in love with this idea and be afraid to tell others about it.

What if someone steals it?

However, as a few days go by, you’ll realize that your idea isn’t as brilliant as you had previously thought.

You’ll have many good ideas that will excite you at first, but won’t survive past the probing stages.

Until, one day, you’ll be convinced that you’ve found the right answer and decide to go ahead with it: in sickness and in health, until death do you part.

***

When that happens, you’ll enter the second entrepreneurial stage.

The first stage is going from desire to idea. Now, your challenge is to transform your idea into a prototype, or a Minimal Viable Product (MVP).

A prototype/MVP is when you put your idea into practice and put your assumptions to the test. This process can range from something very sophisticated to something very rudimentary.

If you’re an individual who likes to focus on what you learn throughout the process, you will quickly understand what needs changing and create new prototypes while making the necessary adjustments, until your idea turns into a concrete project—and that’s the third entrepreneurial phase.

***

The word project, which can be used in different ways, will have a particular definition in this book. A project is when your prototype/MVP leaves the drawing board and starts operating in real life.

That’s when your project really starts.

If you’re only thinking about selling T-shirts, you’re still in the desire phase.

If you decide to make a collection of printed T-shirts with funny quotes by emblematic athletes, then – wait a second – you have an idea.

If you